Dan Rather sat down with Bill Maher tonight for a candid conversation about what the news has come to these days with the rise of opinion journalism and consolidated media. In the middle of the discussion, Rather reflected on one of his most infamous reports when he was at CBS: the story of George W. Bush going AWOL during his service in the Texas Air National Guard. Rather asserted that everything he said was true, but “the powers that be” and the Bush administration didn’t like that he was bringing it up, so his departure from CBS resulted from the fallout. RELATED: Dan Rather Doubles Down On Texas Air National Guard Story: Bush Was A Deserter Maher first asked Rather for his take on the rise of opinion journalism in the past few years. Rather admitted that it can have … [Read more...]

In honor of Mitt Romney‘s commencement speech at Liberty University last week, Bill Maher used his show-ending New Rule tonight to question the validity of the entire university’s credentials and argue that when they give out diplomas, it “cheapens my degree from a real school.” Maher said that because of Liberty’s religious bent, the university isn’t on par with “legitimate” universities that provide students with a comprehensive education. RELATED: Bill Maher: Taliban Wants To Go Back To 8th Century, Christian Right Wants To Go Further Back Maher reminded his audience that Liberty University was founded by Reverend Jerry Falwell and that the university’s science department includes creation studies. He joked, “This is a school … [Read more...]

Remember the good ol’ days, when you went to the movie theaters and got to see a short propaganda reel before the main feature? Well, now our propaganda may no longer be relegated to films like Battleship, because an amendment added to a new defense bill will reverse a long-standing ban on disseminating propaganda materials in the United States. Supporters of the amendment argue that such propaganda is needed to combat propaganda being spread online by al-Qaeda. RELATED: Report: Military Software Will Create Fake Online Identities Overseas For Pro-American Messages According to Buzzfeed, if the amendment is passed, “it would give sweeping powers to the State Department and Pentagon to push television, radio, newspaper, and social media onto the U.S. public.” What exactly … [Read more...]

Watching the prim, polished Rachel Maddow show as it exists today– MSNBC’s flagship– it’s hard to recall the days Rachel Maddow was a radio host first and foremost, with some gigs on TV on the side. Her first regular stint on national television was on The Situation with Tucker Carlson– a news opinion program that preceded both Wolf Blitzer‘s The Situation Room and Jersey Shore‘s Mike “The Situation” Sorrentino, and eventually became simply Tucker, giving way to a series of programs before ceding the 9PM MSNBC spot to Maddow herself. This series will take a look at some of the most exciting discussions/debates on that program. In this five-part series, we watch as a less experienced but still savvy Maddow plays the combative guest to … [Read more...]

Who says Republicans are against cutting spending from programs their constituents favor? On Friday, the Appropriations Committee in the House of Representatives voted to approve cuts to the Department of Defense’s budget which had been spent on recruitment sponsorships to motor sports and fishing. In a betrayal of Shakespearean proportions, as Politico notes, the final blow to the Pentagon’s NASCAR budget came from a Republican representative from Georgia. RELATED: First Lady Michelle Obama Booed At NASCAR Race Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) was the deciding vote on what Politico’s David Rogers reports as Rep. Betty McCollum’s (R-MN) effort to defund these programs. While it represents a drop in the bucket in terms of total defense spending, these programs were far from cheap: NASCAR … [Read more...]